Nameless Grace
by TalkingToTulips
Summary: Prompt: Klaus as Hades and Caroline as Persephone. 'You're here because I appreciate beautiful things. And you, sweetheart, are the most interesting and prettiest of them all.' Extended one shot from Tumblr drabbles, because I keep my promises.


Assimilation. Go where your flock was. Adapt or die.

That's what they did, all of them. They let go of their sacrifice rituals and airs and graces, said goodbye to palaces and idolatry and got places in the suburbs, joined the softball team, some even went to school and made mortal friends. They took on human names and faces, forms that wouldn't have people calling the police or their eyes burning out their skulls. All but one. But nobody mentioned the one they left behind, nothing changed on that front. If you don't talk about it, then it might as well not exist in this crowd. America was the places where the go-getters went so they went there. Some stayed in Greece, or Rome. Some went to London and others to Bali or Rio De Janerio. But they never looked back. It had to be done. It was a new chapter.

She chose the name Caroline herself and stuck to it. It was pretty, not too common. A name for a princess, like her. Eventually she stopped calling herself Persephone and asked everyone to do the same.

Well, not at the start. Her mother insisted she only be called that nasty human name by humans. Caroline and her mother started out together in a small town, she went to the local school and dallied with a mortal boy named Matt who couldn't resist her buttery, bright charms. Mystic Falls' flowers and trees seemed a little brighter with a princess of Spring wandering around the school halls, the queen of the harvest in the book club and town council. It started out well, but they eventually split up. They had been together forever, since her birth, but now was time for them to split up and let the little goddess find herself, a chance she'd never had before now. She was old enough to handle herself, a couple thousand years at last count, and she had the twins, now called Elena and Katherine, to keep her company in Mystic Falls. Her mother left the next day, with a tearful hug between the mother and daughter, and once again, she didn't look back. Nobody ever did in their world.

That's when she stopped going by her godly name.

A couple months went by like this, she was happy for the first time in a long time. But one day, she was walking somewhere, probably to meet another human dalliance. Her latest mortal had been called Tyler. Her heels clicked against the pavement and she had her earphones in, blasting modern music that she'd taken a liking to into her delicately shaped ears that her mother had called pixie-like. That's when someone had tugged her back, pulled a cloth over her mouth and she succumbed to the blackness, but not for the first time.

* * *

When she woke, Caroline didn't know where she was. The bed underneath her was unfamiliar. The sheets were made of a satin that colour of onyx and not her normal silk ones that she had back home where she lived by herself. They felt weird under her fingers and set her hairs on end at the implication of the feeling. Being in someone else's bed was enough to make her open her eyes and look around this strange place. It was a darkly coloured bedroom that was lit by one candle sitting on the bedside table, flickering in a wind that wasn't there and casting shadows around like disco lights. It was night outside, pitch black beyond the window frames, and Caroline gulped, terrified by what was out there in the dark. She was starting to suspect where she was, but thinking it would be too hard. Saying it would be near impossible.

Instead, she sat up and noticed that she was no longer in the clothes she'd put on..was it this morning? She couldn't remember. There was no clock, or way of knowing how much time had past since her last memory in the streets. Caroline was now wearing a light, barely there white dress made of a thin cotton that made her feel exposed to whoever was lurking in the shadows. She told herself to stop being paranoid, that nobody was watching her. But then remembered that she had been abducted from her hometown and was now in a mysterious dark room, which in any normal circumstances, would be grounds for some paranoia on who had brought her here, and who might be watching her right this moment.

Deciding not to stick around to find out, Caroline pushed herself out of the bed, which was a king size poster bed that seemed design to be more threatening to the innocent little blonde, and rushed over to the large oak door. Locked. She let out a noise of frustration mixed with fear and whacked her fist uselessly against the wood in hopes that someone would hear her. Instead, her flesh bounced off the door and she hissed at the sting that radiated through her flesh from the blow, attempting to shake it off to no avail. She tried to garner attention from the world on the other side of the door again, verbally this time. "Hello?! Is anybody there?!" She shouted desperately.

"I'm here." came a voice from within the room. Caroline spun around and her back pressed itself against the door when she came face to face with the man who'd spoken. Her heart thrummed in her chest as he stared at her, but surprisingly it wasn't a scary sort of stare that a serial killer would use. The sort of someone admiring a great work of art or standing in the world's most beautiful garden. Which for the record, was Caroline's own tiny garden in the back of the house, covered with out of season flowers and beautiful green grass no matter the time of year. The man realized that he'd freaked her out by standing too close and moved backwards a step or two. "My apologies, sweetheart." He told her in a soft voice.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" Caroline inquired harshly, gesturing at the bed without noticing her hands doing it.

Her captor only arched an eyebrow and smirked. "It doesn't matter who I am." He replied after a few seconds, his confident smirk sending absolute fear and panic through the blonde. Just on that statement alone, he implied that it probably did matter who it was, and Caroline still had no intention of finding out. With her body blocking the handle from his view, she reached one hand behind her body and pulled at the handle in an attempt to finally get it open again. She was as quiet as she could be, but the man caught onto her plan within seconds. In the blink of an eye, Caroline was yanked away from the door and her chance of freedom, backed against one of the posts of her bed. Caroline made a noise of complaint, and the man cocked his head. Smirk still in place and tutting. "Your reputation precedes you, pretty little goddess. Stubborn as a mule."

The penny dropped.

Caroline almost sighed in relief but stopped herself. There was no reason to be relieved.

"Hades." was the only word she spoke, her voice full of realization.

"One of my many names." He waved off the greeting with one hand, not even in the slightest bit interested in her putting a name to his face. "And I hear you're favouring a human name these days. Caroline. What would your mother say?" He asked, shaking his head like she was a stupid little girl, a schoolgirl who wouldn't learn the lesson. He tutted again. Caroline rolled her eyes, her body still shaking slightly at the lack of power she had in this situation. That was a very rare occurrence, only in her mother's presence and some of the older ones did she feel this way, so little and powerless. Being in a very thin, very small white dress that left almost nothing to the imagination didn't help her confidence and courage either.

"Why am I here? I don't belong somewhere like this, you know that!" Caroline's voice danced on the border between pleading and commanding. The man who had many names and never told her what to call him gave her a little push on the shoulder with one finger, effortless and seamless, and she fell backwards onto the bed. Her spine moulded to the shape of the mattress, and he stood over her. Quickly sitting up and attempting to rearrange the dress in a way that was modest enough for her liking, she kept her eyes burning strong glares at the man in hopes he would get the message. "I'll ask again, why am I here? This is not my realm, they will notice my absence topside." She insisted.

"It's the beginning of winter up there, I'm sure they'll be fine." He quipped, brushing an imaginary speck of lint off his shirt and looking her with a expression that told her that her glares didn't affect him. "And you're here because I appreciate beautiful things. And you, sweetheart, are the most interesting and prettiest of them all." He explained, pushing some of her wayward hair behind her ear with a small degree of affection and compliment in his tone. She continued to glare, not succumbing to his charms and smacked his hand away from her face. He looked at his hand where her palm had whacked him and raised both eyebrows in amusement, smirking once more. "You're here now, goddess, that's what matters." He murmured before disappearing and leaving Caroline alone to be scared of their next meeting.

* * *

Caroline stayed in that same position all night, even after the candle burned dimmer and dimmer and she submerged further and further into the dark. It was a place she didn't belong, she needed to be in the sun. Or the sun needed her. Maybe the world could handle without her whilst the winter came and froze the earth, but if she was still here when Spring returned..the idea was unimaginable. This was not her domain, it was his. She swallowed thickly at the thought of her captor. She wasn't going to sugarcoat it, she was a prisoner in this place. Held captive by a man who was her polar opposite. Fire and ice. She represented the living, and he lorded over the dead. That terrified her more than anything. She didn't know what he wanted from her, but regarding her as a 'beautiful thing' was not a good omen for the girl.

Eventually she became frigidly cold and pulled the black satin sheet off the bed to wrap it tightly around her body, tearing a small slit in the side to make it easier to walk around. The small offer of cover made her breath a little easier as she examined the room that was now her jail cell. It was a modest, dark room, badly lit by the dying candle. An adequate jail cell for a woman like her. Better than a dungeon. There were trinkets and tokens scattered across the vanity table as if left by a previous lover, a former mistress of the room and Caroline tilted her head, picking up a diamond bracelet and stroking her thumb over the dusty diamonds, neglected over the years. She sighed at its lovely and delicate beauty, glinting at her in the candlelight, before she set it back down on the scratched up wood desk that had seen better days.

"Worn by a princess." came the man's voice and Caroline flinched, having not sensed his arrival into her prison. How long had he been watching her? She thought to herself as her fingertips slid across the caked in dust table, creating little trails of exposed mahogany against the paler dust. Pulling her fingers again to rub the dust off her fingers, he spoke again. "You don't like the dress?" He asked, his fingers playing absentmindedly with the top of the sheet she'd cocooned herself in, his knuckles grazing her back. Caroline inclined her head to the side and picked up another necklace, polishing the gold pendant with her thumb before replacing it with a new shine and some care. The dust fell away from the jewels and onto the table slowly.

"The first thing you should know about me is that I am not the sort of girl that flaunts her body, the dress made me feel uncomfortable. Especially in your presence." She explained gently, stepping forward and away from his hands. However, before she could fully step away from his alluring and cunning grip, his hand was against her hip tightly and pulling her back and closer to his body. She took in a sharp breath when he untied the sheet from where she'd tucked it tightly to her body and it pooled at her feet like some sickly onyx waterfall.

"That'll change soon." He told her gently, a promise. He leaned forward to slowly pull up the same bracelet she'd been toying with during his arrival into his hand, examining the diamond for himself before proceeding. Caroline's body was like a marionette as he gently, not in the slightest way that was hurtful, pulled her arm up by the tips of her fingers and fastened the bracelet around her tiny little wrist. She didn't look at it, she stared straight ahead. "It looks much better on you than it did on its previous owner." He complimented, though his tone said what his words didn't. Its previous owner was dead now. Maybe she'd angered him. Maybe she'd woken up on the same bed like she did now. Caroline swallowed thickly, and tried not to react any further than that.

"Let me go." She murmured in another tone that half begging like a little girl, half ordering like the goddess she was. The man only gave a throaty chuckle and pressed a kiss to her shoulder, she tensed up at the feeling of his lips against her skin and moved away.

"Maybe."

"Maybe is not an answer. Maybe is something you tell a child when you're really going to say no. Maybe is a word you use to feed someone false hope which you will eventually tear away." She announced fiercely, swiveling around to face the man who was holding her here. The movement caused the dress to swirl dangerously high up her thighs then settle back down against her skin a little colder than before. Her captor seemed amused by her show of courage and cocked both his eyebrows at her deduction from his one word answer. He then gave a counter argument to her outburst.

"Would you prefer that I tell you you're never going to leave? Never see your mother again? Never see the sun?" He asked her curiously, backing her up against the table until her thighs were pressed against the edge of the vanity, the wood digging into her flesh. She grabbed onto the desk with the fingertips to steady herself and puffed herself up to try and seem less frightened by his tone.

"I would prefer the truth on what's going to happen." She retorted, slipping out from between the man and the desk to stand in the centre of the room and regain a little control of the situation. She put both her hands on her hips and made a little noise of frustration. He turned to face her, an eyebrow still arched in curiosity at her sudden show of the wanting to change the status quo. "That is of course assuming that you can tell the truth." She added, her words harsher than her nature. Maybe that's what his presence and this place was doing to her, the cold was freezing her warm heart already. Turning her from the princess of spring to the ice queen in the blink of an eye.

Before she knows it, she is against the wall at an impossible speed, her head thumping against the smooth papered walls. She cried out in shock, and the pain is sharper than she imagined. Caroline knew that people like him were capable of those sorts of feats, the ability to vanish into the shadows at will and walk ten times faster than any man on the face of the earth could run, but she'd been taken aback by the suddenness. Once again, he has her in his grip again and is staring into her eyes as Caroline regained her composure, the pain from the knock quickly vanishing from her nervous system. "Do not mock me, little goddess." He warned firmly, not letting her looking away with his vice of a gaze. "They told me you were many things, but I did not know self-righteous and petty was one of them." He backed off a few steps, giving Caroline enough space to smack him.

But her wrist is caught mid-swing in his hand and pushed back down to her side, he laughed at her futile attempt to assault him, which only sought to infuriate her more. "I am not petty!" Caroline almost growled at him. "My judgement are well earned seeing as you hold me prisoner and will not share with me my fate!" She added, her back against the wall as she vented. The man looked thoughtful for a few seconds, before smirking a half smile and turning back to her.

"I've already told you once, do not mock me. I do not people twisting me into something I am not through propaganda and the small-minded views of those other deities." He repeated. "Your opinions are blind and one-sided, you must get them from your mother. I have not lied to you once, and will not lie. I have no need for that human, contemptible, cheap act. I will return when you have realized that you're above such narrow-minded assumptions." He told her before vanishing once more into the darkness. Caroline absentmindedly noted that the dying, tiny candle had been replaced with a larger, brighter candle that radiated the smell of pomegranate into the air. The aroma teased her senses and reminded her of home. But not Mystic Falls, her real home. She was tired, she decided, walking numbly over to where the sheets lie and bundling them into her arms. Shrouding herself in the satin, she fell onto the bed and slipped into sleep, hoping that she would remain undisturbed.

* * *

Caroline remained only for three days. She hit the door until her body ached, she watched the candle wilt and die only to be resurrected moments after they submerged into blackness, she polished every knick knack and piece of jewelry on the desk. Caroline was too stubborn to call him back and apologize for being rude, because she didn't find herself at fault. He had stolen her away from her realm, the human realm and brought her to the underworld. It was not a bad place, as many people believed. The place where all souls, good, bad or neutral, came to rest after their time in the human realm. But Spring did not visit here, that's why she didn't belong. There were no seasons, no winter, no summer, no spring, no heat or chill. Only the calmness of the afterlife. Caroline sat on the windowsill and tried to figure out what was beyond the glass, it was too dark to tell.

When she woke on the third day, however, it was a little lighter outside, like sunrise. Caroline had never seen such a thing happen before, so approached the window from the bed, still wearing just the white dress. The closer she came to the pain, the brighter the outside world seemed to become. Almost like an April day where a light breeze brushed the skies, she thought to herself. As if by magic, her magic, a little flower she hadn't noticed on the windowsill ruffled in a silent wind. Caroline almost jumped back startled, but smiled. There was no breeze in the underworld. With her show of happiness, the colours that lit the outside world sharpened and became more brighter. Caroline got a little closer to the glass and pressed her hand against the window. It was locked, she couldn't see whether the flower would be more tempted into sprouting if she touched it, whether her magic and influence would work in such a place as this, the world of the dead. Her curiosity piqued and she tried to force the window up to try. It wouldn't budge. She groaned and sighed, putting her fingertip against the window to let the little sprout know it wasn't alone, she was here. She wished she could see to it. Caroline sighed and examined the fields that had been dark and black for days. They took her breath away.

As Apollo did not visit this realm, there was no sun. The light was completely Caroline's own making. It came from everywhere and nowhere and radiated the essence of Spring that she'd been unable to spread for days. Caroline sighed and wished to be outside. She loved lying in grass and feeling the sun on her skin, humming lullabies her mother sang to herself. She didn't even notice someone behind her, but felt something be pressed into her hand. Caroline turned to see the person who'd offered it to her and saw no-one, just the empty room she'd become acquainted with. She shook her head and instead focused on the disappearing visitor's gift. She looked down, a key sat in her palm. Long and spindly. Caroline tried it in the window, but it didn't fit. She looked at the bronze key, taking a deep breath and trying not to get her hopes up before turning to the door. She glanced at the key once more and ran to the door, shoving the key inside and popping the lock away from the door. The door swung open and she laughed in happiness, finally free of this room. She rushed out into the hallways and found her way outside, through a large set of double doors, made of an ancient wood.

The feeling of the sun on her skin, even if it was own her creation and not Apollo's, was the best feeling in the world.

He was already sat outside when she arrived, sitting on a bench that faced a water fountain. She slowed her run to a walk, remembering herself and pursing her lips when she saw him. She wanted to walk straight past him and go to the fields, where she could already see the souls of the dead milling around and enjoying her spring as much as she did, but something stopped her. Caroline somehow knew that he had given her the key and let her go. She had to thank him. Caroline slowly walked over to the bench, his back was facing her as he watched the fish that swam around the base of the fountain, supposedly fascinated. Before she could open her mouth, he opened his. "I was wrong to lock you up." He admitted, not looking at her as he spoke. She stopped in her gait and tilted her head. "You did all this in a moment of happiness. It was like trying to capture a nightingale. They sing no matter where they are." He told her, turning around to look at her with a smirk. He then patted the space beside him and she accepted hesitantly, sitting down and rearranging her dress around her thighs. He was playing with a pomegranate in his hands.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about what I said. You were right, it was conceited of me to say that." She breathed, looking around at the lightened world. Caroline couldn't believe that a man like him had taught her something valuable. She actually felt guilty for accusing him of not being truthful, for listening to others opinions above the evidence in front of her. He looked up at him and smiled again, like he was awestruck.

"I'm sorry too. You can leave, if you want." He decided a moment later, which took Caroline aback. Had he just changed his mind like that? What? She thought to herself, assuming there must be some sort of master plan behind this where she would end up dead, or back in that room again. He looked over at the fields, touched by her presence and seeming a little brighter. "But ask yourself whether the humans up there really appreciate the beauty of what you can do with just a smile, do they even care? Not anymore. You could stay here and be a goddess forevermore, return to that world when they need you. Here, everyone will love you for smiling and bringing a little love into this place." He told her, offering her a choice. Stay here and be loved or return and be normal. Caroline sighed heavily, it did sound tempting. She missed the old days. "I'm sorry you won't have better company if you stay here though. Not a lot of people come and see me down here, so I'm not well versed in conversation. But I'd always appreciate you for what you are, and not what you have to pretend to be in the world above." He chuckled, referencing himself. Caroline smiled.

He then offered her the fruit in his hands, all she had to do was bite and it was a done deal. In the land of the living, they would tell people that he forced it down her throat or she accidentally ate a seed, that he stole her and locked her away for 300 years until she consented to stay, not 3 days. They would definitely never say that, in a moment of clarity and promise of a better future for herself, she bit into the pomegranate of her own free will. That she enjoyed the delicious taste of relief from her human life, licked the stray juices from her lips and then kissed the man who had set her free. They would never admit that she was happy down there, that over time she would fall in love with the Lord of the Dead and he would return that love. He had loved her from the very start, of course. All they would know is that she only returned to earth to see her mother and bring sunshine and April showers to their world. But she would be back down in her new realm, her new kingdom, before the first leaf of autumn could fall.

Assimilate. Go where your flock was. Adapt or die. That's what she did. Earth was no longer her realm and she was no longer loved and adored by the world, seen as what she truly was. Instead, she was just a schoolgirl, a little blonde, a outcast. Is it any wonder that she found herself a new realm and a King to love her for who she was? She wouldn't think so.


End file.
